


But Believe Me, I Love You

by Starry_seblos



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Friends as Family, M/M, Post-Graduation, idk when this is set, maybe post college?, no beta we die like men, seb is stressed about everything, seriously not proof read
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:36:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27703555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starry_seblos/pseuds/Starry_seblos
Summary: It’s a big day for two members of the old  EHS  theatre gang, and everyone has something to say about it
Relationships: Seb Matthew-Smith/Carlos Rodriguez
Comments: 6
Kudos: 24





	But Believe Me, I Love You

It was raining. 

It wasn't supposed to be raining, the forecast had said sunny skies all day, and yet here Seb was, standing in the doorway of the church staring out at the pouring rain.

"It could clear up"

"The ground is sludge"

Kourtney tentatively peered out into the rain soaked abyss, poking her foot into the sodden ground "ok so the ground is sludge, what does it matter? The ceremony's inside"

Seb frowned, pushing the heavy oak doors shut, and turning to rest his back against them as if somehow if he refused to look at it the rain would simply cease to be. "Kourt, what if this is some sort of sign?" He asked, allowing himself to slide down the wood doors to sit on the floor, curled in on himself in a simultaneous attempt to retain some semblance of warmth within the practically frost bitten church and to rest his head against his knees, maybe if he ignored the situation aggressively enough it would actually work.

"It's not a sign, Sebby, it's an incorrect weather forecast"

"A very incorrect weather forecast"

"That happens sometimes" Kourtney offered. "Seb I know you're kinda stressed about today being perfect, and it will be, a little bit of rain isn't going to change anything. Now get off the floor so you can get changed and I can do your makeup"

Seb allowed the girl to haul him back to his feet and lead him down the hallway into the small, well-lit room at the back of the church where Nini, Rico and Big Red seemed to be doing trick shots with M&Ms and Rico's mouth.

"Ok guys, it is officially raining" Kourtney announced 

"Well everyone's already somewhere in the Church so that's fine, let's get this show on the road" Nini declared with a grin

Seb just smiled at his friends who were sat in varyingly gay positions across the room. "I'm getting married"

***

"Are you gonna keep staring out the window or are you going to get ready for your wedding?" 

Carlos turned to face Gina who had apparently arrived at the church before the rain had picked up judging from her dry attire.

"Seb's probably worried about the rain"

Gina just smiled and slid onto the window seat by Carlos "Seb has Kourtney and Nini keeping him on track, he also has Big Red and Rico though I doubt they'll be that much help. Point is he's got his people and you've got yours, now stop worrying about your fiancé for 2 minutes and worry about yourself or you'll be getting married in your pyjamas"

Carlos rolled his eyes in mock annoyance at his friend before standing from the window seat and making his way to where his tux was hanging. "Right, this is going to be amazing and nothings going to go wrong"

"Exactly, you get dressed, I'm going to go proof read EJs best man speech because there are going to be children at this wedding reception"

***

"Seb sit still"

"I am sat still!"

"You just moved your mouth, so no you're not"

"Kourt that's cheating" Nini called from her place on the sofa as she adjusted the pink rose pinned to Rico's lapel for maybe the 15th time since they had gotten changed into their wedding outfits.

Seb and Kourtney simultaneously rolled their eyes as Kourtney poked at Seb's eyelid with an eyeshadow brush, frowning slightly. She tilted her head, dabbed the silver glitter against his left eyelid one last time, and dropped the brush.

"You look perfect" she stated simply.

Big Red glanced over to where the two of them were hunched over the mirror in the corner.

"Yeah, you do" he said with a grin on his face, "I still can't believe you're getting married dude, I swear you stood him up to Homecoming, like, yesterday"

Nini snorted, "how many times do you think EJ will mention Homecoming in his speech?"

Seb just groaned, deciding to hold off on telling his friends that EJ had -on pain of death - been warned by Carlos not to bring up homecoming. EJ was actually the least of Seb's worries since he had had to practically manhandle his sister, George, away from the barn to prevent her from bringing Blossom, the offending cow from Homecoming night, as her plus one to the wedding.

Kourtney smiled at him, wrapping her arm around his shoulders, "homecoming doesn't matter anymore, I'd argue that being on time to marry him is a lot more important" she said, squeezing him closer to her.

Seb just smiled, returning the half hug the best he could without smudging his freshly done makeup.

"Yeah, we're just joking Seb, this wedding is going to be perfect" Nini said, appearing at Seb's other side, "you're Seb and Carlos, how could it be anything less?"

Seb simply grinned as he pulled his girls closer to him.

"Boy, you're not about to cry are you? Because your makeup is fire and I'm not redoing it"

Seb just laughed at the older girl, "no" he said "no tears today, promise".

***

"One joke? Come on, Carlos you've got to admit it's kinda funny" EJ reasoned.

Carlos rolled his eyes, fighting the urge to throw the crumpled piece of paper with EJs speech on it back at the guy, glaring at him slightly.

"No, EJ. No jokes about that" he said, feeling as if he had had the same conversation with the guy everyday since he proposed to Seb, and that was over a year ago now

"I'll figure it out." EJ said, taking the speech back from Carlos and slipping it into the pocket of his suit jacket.

Carlos sighed slightly, which he was aware EJ probably saw as a sign of victory on his part, and he was half right, because this wedding was beginning to fall apart slightly, the least of Carlos's worries was if EJ was going to make a dumb joke about the possibility of Seb arriving at the church 3 hours late.

The rain meant that all the photos would have to be taken inside, and while they did have a photo booth set up at the reception venue, that hadn't been the original plan at all, the band had been stranded due to an accident caused by the weather and wouldn't make it until the reception, meaning they were going to have to come up with an alternative for the isle walk (and at this rate it would be EJ singing A Billion Sorrys).

Carlos wanted ore than anything to run downstairs and hug his fiancé, who he knew would be having a minor breakdown over all the last minute changes after so long of both of them repeating the mantra that their wedding was going to be perfect. But Seb was a superstitious guy, and the one thing Carlos knew would freak him out even more than the series of unfortunate events that had become their wedding, it would be seeing the other groom before the ceremony.

Carlos stood from his place at the table, beginning to pace slightly at the thought of Seb panicking without him there to give him a hug.

EJ simply grabbed his shoulders and gently pushed him back into his seat.

"I know you're worried about how Seb's dealing with all of this, but Gina, wherever the hell she's gotten to, is right, he has all the right people around him and I'm sure he's doing just fine. It doesn't matter who cancels last minute or who sees who or what the weather does, you're Seb and Carlos, this wedding will be perfect because your perfect for each other"

Carlos looked up at his best friend, "if only you could channel such eloquence into your song writing"

"Fuck you"

***

"Seb you need to relax, do you want me to go grab Carlos?" Rico asked attempting to pull Seb out of his rhythmic pacing around the room.

Seb frantically shook his head, "bad luck" he managed to say.

Kourtney placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, "Seb honey, you need to calm down, you're just going to work yourself up more. I'll sing for you when you walk down the isle and we can do the outside pictures last if you're getting changed for the reception and the rain will just look like an aesthetic choice ok?"

Seb finally stopped pacing, "you'd do that?" He asked

"Seb, this wedding is going to be perfect, we're not going to let it be anything less" Nini promised "just pull up the lyrics for the song, I'm sure Kourt can learn it"

Seb smiled slightly "I don't think learning it will be a problem".

***

Kourtney would've laughed, she would've but she had to admit that it was cute and maybe the most Seb-and-Carlos thing that had ever happened.

She spied Big Reds head poking out from the curtain at the back of the church with a thumbs up and took her cue to start singing.

"I believe in dreaming, shooting for the stars  
Baby to be number one, you've got to raise the bar"

The was a quiet rumble of understanding through the church as the familiar lyrics filled the space and Carlos appeared at the back of the church, half clinging to his mother's arm as she tearily led him down the isle of the church.

"Kicking and scratching, grinding out my best  
Anything it takes to climb the ladder of success"

Carlos and Mrs Rodriguez (Kourtney was 83% sure she was called Julia) made it to the alter. She wiped away a tear from her eye, straightened Carlos's perfectly straight jacket slightly and moved to the side.

"Work our tails off everyday, gotta bump the competition  
Blow them all away"

Seb appeared at the back of the church, the smile plastered on his face a welcome change from the sheer panic he'd been in earlier. George smiled, squeezing his hand as she led him down the isle.

"Yeah we're gonna bop bop bop, bop to the top  
Slip and slide and ride that rhythm  
Jump and hop, hop till we drop and strut your stuff"

Seb made it to the alter, throwing one last smile at his sister, who had graciously agreed not to bring Blossom the cow to the wedding, he turned to face his (very) soon to be husband.

"Bop to the top"

***

When Seb and Carlos had told them they were going to write their own vows, a few people had been understandably reserved about it. 

Of course Seb was an incredible song writer, and Carlos had at least passed English in high school, but both of them (mostly Seb) had a slight tendency to go on, and on, and on. Especially when it came to talking about the other.

Gina hadn't been worried. Of course it helped that Carlos had practically texted her every hour on the hour with redrafts of his vows and had probably asked her how to spell 'exquisite' about 15 times (every time her response was 'you don't need to spell it you need to say it' but he never seemed to grasp the concept).

Carlos's vows were sweet, Gina knew that, they kind of made her want to repeatedly bash her head into a stone wall, but she put that down to over exposure rather than poor writing. (If she never heard the phrase "I'd sail an ocean and climb a mountain as long as you were at the top " again it would be too soon) it also didn't help that EJ had decided it was his job to pick holes in the allegories ("I just don't understand, why is Seb at the top of a mountain? Has he been kidnapped? Who kidnapped Seb and tied him to a mountain? That seems a bit dark for a wedding") but the vows were cute, the fact that Gina truly hoped with her heart and soul that she never had to hear them again didn't change that at all.

Seb's vows were beautiful, of course they were, he was Seb. Ask a musician to write a declaration of love and he shall deliver.

Gina's memory wasn't the best, especially when it came to words, her mother always said it was because she kept too many dance moves stored upstairs, but Seb's "I am stomach churning, heart racing, brain numbing, sickeningly, embarrassingly in love with you, I don't think I've ever been as happy as I am when you're here" was something she hoped she would remember, (especially if it could replace the part of her brain holding "who would want to kidnap Seb? He's a sweetheart")

***

The wedding photos had come out surprisingly well, the ones in the church were lovely, the natural light pouring in through the stained glass windows had provided a warm glow to them that no one had considered, and the improvised shots of Seb and Carlos laughing in the pouring rain were possibly even better than the ones that have been planned.

The wedding party trudged their way down the road to where the reception was being held in a barn (a barn that wasn't Seb's because he still wasn't confident that Blossom the cow wouldn't make a surprise visit) all varying degrees of soaking.

Kourtney had been right, the rain did clear up, the ground was still basically a mud slide, but once they reached the road that didn't matter so much. 

Seb and Carlos had decided early on that they would change for the reception, because while formal tuxedos were the right choice for the wedding ceremony itself, they defiantly weren't about to party in them (besides, Seb's baby pink suit and Carlos's floral one were very on brand for them). That choice had proved further to be a good one as they arrived at the reception venue and released each other from the tight grip they held, basically since Seb had turned to face Carlos at the alter, to change into their dry clothes for the reception.

It was probably the fastest either of them had ever changed in their life (not including the three times Seb had to re-button his shirt due to mixing up the button holes and Carlos somehow managing to put his trousers on backwards). Despite the rush the two of them made it out of their respective rooms in -close to- record time their cheesy grins reappearing the second they laid eyes on each other again.

"Looking good Mr Matthew-Rodriguez" Carlos said, moving to take Seb's hands in his own once again.

"Is that a compliment or narcissism?"

"How about both?"

***

EJ did in fact make a joke about homecoming. And he didn't feel bad about it, the speech was obviously lovely (it had to be considering Nini was maid of honour and had written a song in place of a speech, he couldn't let himself be beat by that).

Besides, the small quip about Seb arriving at the alter on time was cute and not even close to the worst thing that had happened to this wedding. As far as the jock was concerned, his cutest spiel about how “of all the couples East High saw walk through its doors, the fact that Seb and Carlos were one of the few who made it through the rest of the world was no surprise to him” definitely made up for "I know a lot of things went a bit wrong today, but Seb was actually on time for this date so who's really complaining?".

Carlos's threat of violence seemed to be forgotten anyway. To be fair it seemed like Carlos had forgotten most things that didn't involve his husband at this point.

The two of them were admittedly adorable, neither of them appearing to get bored of simply gazing into the others eyes with dopey, love struck smiles on their faces.

Once the speeches (and songs) were over, Carlos simply turned to his husband and smiled, raising his glass.

"To the rest of our lives" he declared

Seb smiled, giving his husband a peck in the cheek before raising his glass to meet Carlos's.  
"To the rest of our lives" he agreed "and to everyday of it with you".

**Author's Note:**

> This is baddd but Julia asked for it so here you go


End file.
